The present disclosure generally relates to the field of electronics. More particularly, an embodiment of the invention relates to techniques for resolving false dependencies associated with speculatively executing load instructions in a processor.
To improve performance, some processors may execute a load instruction speculatively, e.g., out-of-order with respect to store instructions assuming the load instruction is independent of the store instructions. To ensure that the load instruction is independent of the store instructions, the address associated with the load instruction may be checked against the store instruction addresses. However, performing a full address comparison may add latency and reduce performance. To reduce latency associated with performing a full address comparison, some processors may check a portion of the load instruction address against a portion of the store instruction addresses. This approach, however, may result in a situation where a partial match may occur, for example, indicating a false dependency. False dependencies may prevent a load instruction from executing which may, in turn, result in reduced performance in a processor.